Physical Resistance and Evasion

[Prent]

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and the more I do the more unsure I become, so I just gotta ask, why are Physical Resistance and Evasion different stats?

Physical Resistance supposedly represents your ability to not get clawed, bitten, or tackled, and the main ways people do that is by blocking, dodging, and redirecting blows. Evasion supposedly represents your ability to not get hit by weapons or AoE attacks. But the main ways people do that are by blocking, dodging, and redirecting blows.

Since they do the same thing for types of attacks that I can’t find any meaningful difference between, I hope the cause of my confusion is apparent.

To be clear I’m not trying to say “this is how this should be” but am instead asking “why is this, this way?”

 

[Savin]

Evasion is dodging attacks outright. PhysRes more represents physical fortitude: your ability to shrug off poisons and keep from getting bodied by, say, a bull rush or shield bash. More attacks target PhysRes than perhaps strictly should from that perspective, but we'd like all the defenses to see significant use.

 

[Prent]

Evasion is dodging attacks outright. PhysRes more represents physical fortitude: your ability to shrug off poisons and keep from getting bodied by, say, a bull rush or shield bash. More attacks target PhysRes than perhaps strictly should from that perspective, but we'd like all the defenses to see significant use.

So attacks run through Evasion first, and then Physical Resistance?

 

[Savin]

So attacks run through Evasion first, and then Physical Resistance?

No.

 

[Prent]

No.

Okay, so then you’re saying that those kinds of attacks you just attached to Physical Resistance so that it would be a better stat to have? Even though those are things that should fall under evasion?

The poisons and other stuff makes perfect sense though.

 

[Burnerbro]

No.

But what physical attacks that do damage first and then roll for an additional effect? Some Powersexplicitly mention an extra roll to get the add-on effect.

 

[Savin]

But what physical attacks that do damage first and then roll for an additional effect? Some Powersexplicitly mention an extra roll to get the add-on effect.

Some powers make multiple attack rolls; for instance, you might target Evasion to hit and then Physical Resistance to knock prone or stun.

 

[Burnerbro]

Some powers make multiple attack rolls; for instance, you might target Evasion to hit and then Physical Resistance to knock prone or stun.

From my (limited) testing, it seems that for attacks that have extra effects it is never the case that you can miss with the main, damage portion of it and still apply the effect. So what Prent mentions seems happen in practice: if the first roll made against Evasion fails, the whole attack is rendered ineffective.

As a smaller extra question: what (if any) is the stat that positively modifies the attacker's additional effect rolls to counter the negative modifiers of the target resistances?

 

[Savin]

what (if any) is the stat that positively modifies the attacker's additional effect rolls

Accuracy.

 

[Burnerbro]

Much obliged.